You’re mid-match. Maybe you’re clutching a 1v3 in Valorant or just trying to survive a hot drop in Warzone. Suddenly, you realize there’s a wall of white or yellow text eating up the top corner of your monitor. It’s annoying. You see your frame rate, your processor usage, and that dreaded latency number bouncing around like a caffeinated squirrel. You probably hit a weird key combo by accident. Or maybe a recent game update decided you needed to be a hardware analyst today.
Why is my fps gpu cpu and lat showing? Honestly, it’s usually just a diagnostic overlay triggered by your software.
Most of the time, this is actually a feature, not a bug. Modern gaming software—think NVIDIA’s GeForce Experience, AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition, or even Steam—wants to help you "optimize" your experience. But when you didn't ask for it, it feels like visual clutter. It’s the digital equivalent of someone standing over your shoulder while you work, constantly shouting out how many breaths you're taking per minute. It's technically "data," but it's totally distracting.
The Most Common Culprits Behind the Overlay
Usually, this boils down to three specific programs. If you have an NVIDIA card, you’ve likely bumped Alt + R. That is the default "Performance Overlay" shortcut for GeForce Experience. It’s incredibly easy to hit if you’re trying to use Alt for a push-to-talk key or a quick inventory swap. One slip of the finger and suddenly your screen is a mess of statistics.
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If you’re an AMD user, the culprit is often Ctrl + Shift + O. AMD’s Adrenalin software has a "Metrics Overlay" that is surprisingly detailed. It doesn’t just show FPS; it dives into power draw and fan speeds too. It’s great when your PC is overheating, but it’s a total eyesore when you’re just trying to enjoy a cinematic RPG.
Steam and In-Game Settings
Sometimes, it isn't even your GPU driver. Steam has its own built-in FPS counter. You find it buried in the "In-Game" tab of the Steam settings. Unlike the GPU overlays, this one is usually just a tiny green number. If you’re seeing "LAT" (latency), you’re probably looking at an in-game setting. Games like Call of Duty, Overwatch 2, and Fortnite have specific "Telemetry" settings. Developers turn these on by default sometimes after a big patch to help players troubleshoot connectivity issues.
Understanding the "Lat" and Why It Matters
Latency is the weird one. While FPS (Frames Per Second) tells you how smooth the game looks, "Lat" tells you how much the universe hates your internet connection or your hardware.
There are actually two types of latency you might be seeing. There is Network Latency, which is the time it takes for your data to hit the game server and come back. Then there is System Latency. If you see "Render Latency" or "Reflex Latency," that’s the time it takes for your mouse click to actually result in a muzzle flash on the screen. NVIDIA Reflex is a big reason why people see these numbers now. If you have "Low Latency Mode" set to "Boost" in your NVIDIA Control Panel, it sometimes forces these stats to stay visible so you can see the millisecond improvements.
How to Make the Text Disappear
To get rid of the "why is my fps gpu cpu and lat showing" problem, you have to find the source. Here is the hit list of where to look:
NVIDIA Users:
Open the GeForce Experience app. Go to Settings (the gear icon), find the "In-Game Overlay" section, and click "Settings" underneath it. Look for "HUD Layout" and then "Performance." Select "Off." If you want to keep the feature but change the shortcut, you can do that here too. Or just mash Alt + R again and see if it toggles off.
AMD Users:
Open the AMD Software. Go to the "Performance" tab. Underneath that, you’ll see "Metrics." There is a toggle for "Overlay." Flip it to off. You can also disable the hotkey entirely in the Hotkeys menu if you find yourself hitting it by mistake during frantic gameplay.
The Game Itself:
Check the "Interface" or "Telemetry" tab in your game's options menu. In Modern Warfare 3 or Warzone, for example, it’s under "Interface." You can individually toggle FPS, Server Latency, and Packet Loss. Personally, I keep Server Latency on because I want to know if the lag is my fault or the server's fault, but I hide everything else.
Why Some Pros Keep These Stats On
It’s worth mentioning that some people actually want this stuff showing. If you're a competitive player, seeing a sudden spike in "Lat" explains why your shots aren't landing. If your "CPU Usage" hits 100% while your "GPU Usage" is at 60%, you’ve got a bottleneck. That means your processor is struggling to keep up with your graphics card.
Intel’s Chief Performance Strategist, Ryan Shrout, has often talked about how monitoring these metrics helps users realize when their background apps—like Chrome with fifty tabs open—are cannibalizing their gaming performance. So, while it’s annoying now, maybe take a quick peek at the numbers before you kill them. If your FPS is much lower than your monitor’s refresh rate (like 60 FPS on a 144Hz screen), you might actually want to dive into those settings and lower your shadows or lighting effects.
The Weird Windows "Game Bar" Glitch
There is one more ghost in the machine: the Windows Game Bar. If you hit Windows Key + G, a bunch of widgets pop up. One of those is a performance widget. Sometimes, users accidentally "pin" this widget. When a widget is pinned in Game Bar, it stays on top of your game even after you close the Game Bar overlay. Look for a small pin icon on the performance window and uncheck it, or just close the performance widget entirely.
What if it won't go away?
If you've checked NVIDIA, AMD, Steam, and the game settings and it’s still there, you might be running MSI Afterburner. It’s a super popular tool for overclocking, and it comes with something called RivaTuner Statistics Server (RTSS). RTSS is notorious for showing a big, bold, purple or blue font with all your hardware stats. Look in your system tray (bottom right of your taskbar) for a little computer icon with a "60" on it. Right-click it and close it, or go into the settings to disable the "On-Screen Display."
Moving Forward and Cleaning Up Your UI
Honestly, unless you are troubleshooting a crash or testing a new GPU, you don't need this stuff. It creates "performance anxiety." You start looking at the FPS counter instead of the game world. You get mad when it drops from 120 to 115, even though your human eyes literally cannot see that five-frame difference.
Actionable Next Steps:
- The Quick Fix: Try Alt + R (NVIDIA) or Ctrl + Shift + O (AMD) first. These are the 90% solutions.
- Check the Tray: Look at your taskbar icons. Close things like MSI Afterburner, Precision X1, or RTSS if they are running.
- Audit your Game Settings: Go into the "Interface" or "Video" settings of your specific game. Look for "Telemetry" or "Performance Display" and turn it off.
- Update Drivers: Sometimes a bug in an old driver causes the overlay to "stick." Grab the latest version from the manufacturer's site.
- Clean your Hotkeys: If you keep triggering this by accident, go into your GPU software and change the shortcut to something obscure, like Ctrl + Alt + Shift + P. You'll never hit that by mistake.
Once the screen is clear, you can actually get back to playing. Information is power, sure, but in the middle of a boss fight, a clear view of the battlefield is worth way more than knowing your CPU is currently at 54 degrees Celsius.